ISLAMABAD, July 15: Pakistan has called upon the 65 member states of the UN Conference on Disarmament to strengthen multilateralism in the realms of international security, disarmament and non-proliferation. Ambassador Masood Khan made the call as Pakistan assumed the Presidency of the Conference on Disarmament (CD) for the third time since 1990, a message received from Geneva on Friday said.

As terrorist threats stalk the globe, he said the goals of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation have become important and the CD had to address issues relating to weapon usable fissile materials.

“It is the shared responsibility of member states to work towards security in outer space and codify negative security assurances,” he added.

But “the Conference on Disarmament can move forward if it has agreement on the programme of work”, he said, adding that he had assumed the presidency “at a time when the CD is standing still”.

“Our movement is like static walking, but not on a treadmill. Nothing significant has happened here in the past eight years,” he said. “The impasse is political, not procedural.”

Ambassador Khan said the objectives of disarmament and non-proliferation were linked to each other and both required leadership by the international community.

To break the deadlock stalking CD, he said “heads of state can take initiatives; regional groups can make suggestions; individual countries can come up with proposals reflecting the will of their capitals to be flexible”.

He said the current impasse should not deter the members from exploring ideas and initiatives which would create political goodwill to revitalise the conference.

Outlining his priorities, Masood Khan said that among other things, he intended to invite representatives of regional groups and China to hold consultations on the programme of work, which would be shared with other members.

Pakistan assumed the presidency of the 65-member of the Conference of Disarmament on Thursday which will last till the last week of August 2005.

Ambassador Masood Khan succeeded Norwegian envoy Wegger Strommen, who presided over the conference in June and the early part of July this year.